Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-10-12
LEGENDS OF FISH.
Popular SuperstitiOns Prevailing in Various
Portions of the Globe.

PORTIONS of the Globe.
The japanese have legend that fish
are the embodiment of the souls of
naval officers, and the African negroes
believe that magicians assume the
shape of fish and come to their nets to
work evil.
An amusing story is told of the
skate. 1t seems that, in years gone by,
when the fish assembled to select for
themselves king, the skate was be-
hind, and his mouth is now one sided
from his not being chosen king.
According to popular notion once
credited, the plaice was produced from
small crustacean animal of the shrimp
kind. But vulgar error has been
explained by the fact that the ovr is de-
posted in localities frequented by
shrimps.
There was an old Highland tradition
that the behring's quilted the coasts
where blood had been shed, and it
seems that this notion was revived after
the battle of Copenhagen. ''when it
was said that they had deserted the
Baltic on account of the noise of the
guns"
A story is related of St. Corentin, of
Brittany, that every morning a little fish
was seen in a fountain near the hermit
age. The saint caught it, cut off a
sufficient quantity for his repast, then
threw the rest in the water, when the
fish became whole again, and on the
following morning was ready for
another quartering.
Gan Author writes Miss PhipsOn,
in her "Animal Lore of Shakspere's
Time" actually afirms that the whale
was designed by Providence for the
special purpose of, at certain seasons
of the year, frightening the herring
away from its native shores into those
regions where it would be obtainable
with greater ease by man. .
A popular nickname for the Dream in
Cornwall is "choke-children. p" The story
runs that one day St. Leven was fish
ing, when he caught two Of these fish
on one hook three times in succession.
He took them home to his sister, but
the result was unfortunate. for "the
fish were cooked and the children be-
ing hungry, were choked by eating the
bones"
''In Normandy" writes Hoare, in
his "Giraldus," "a few days before the
death of Henry H., the fish of a certain
pool fought so furiously with each other
that the neighboring people were at
tracted to the spot by the noise. So
desperate was the conflict that scarce
ly a fish was found alive in the morn
ing, thus by a wonderful prognostic
foretelling the death of one by that of
many"
The fishermen in Scotland declare
that the salmon's tail is poinoed ''since
Loki became a salmon, and was caught
by that appendage while slipping
through net set for him by the gods"
Curious to say, in some parts of Scot
land the salmon is held in great
aversion, its name not even being men,
toned. Thus, in certain districts, it is
known as the $50 and SOS fish" andi in
others as the beast.
The pike is an important fish in folk
legends. In Russian fairy-tales the
pike is form assumed by the devil in
order to eat the young hero, who has
become little perch. Some old natu-
ralists have accounted for the sudden
and mysterious appearance of the pike
in ponds far from other water by the
theory that they were produced dy the
heat of the sun from weed known as
pickerel-weed.
A curious legend is related by an
Eastern traveller who, describing river
which flows from the Caucasus into the
Black Sea, says: Every year there
arrives in this part of the river great
quantity of fish. The people cut off
the flesh on one side of them, eat it,
and let the fish 90. The next year the
fish return again and offer the other
side, which they had preserved I'M
touched. 1t is then discovered that
new flesh has replaced the ole"
The oyster is the subject of many
strange legends, and as far back as the
the time of Pliny was supposed to be
produced by the dew. In his Natural
History" he thus describes the origin of
the pearl oyster: at is engendered
by the dews of heaven falling in the
open shells at the breeding time. The
quality of the pearl varies according to
the amount of dew imbibed being
lustrous if that were pure and dull if it
were foul. Cloudy weather spells it's
color, lightning stoppeth the growth,
and thunder maketh the shellfsh un-
productive. Chicago NeUs